It has been a very busy 9 days! My last post was a bit of a downer but lets be honest not all days are sunshine and rainbows haha some days I have tired eyes and a grouchy attitude but these last days have just been amazing. Claire makes everything so much more special and I loved celebrating Christmas with her.

This year we celebrated Christmas eve with my side of the family, thankfully both of my sisters were in town and I was able to spend lots of time with them. For Christmas eve we always go to Church and then open gifts at midnight and this will probably be the last time that we are going to do that since Claire will believe in Santa by next year [I think?] it was wonderful, Claire was showered with gifts and so were we. It was so exciting to share this holiday with her and to watch my parents and my sisters spend time with her. The day flew by and then we had Christmas day to celebrate, we all woke up a little later than expected since we didn't go to bed until 3am and opened our stockings and then we were off to celebrate with Ryan's side of the family. Lunch with David was really nice, we were able to see his apartment all decorated and watch him enjoy his grand daghter, she got the cutest clothes and a new friend Olivia. Then we were off to see Dana, Todd, & Kyra where again we were alls howered with gifts, we cannot say how blessed we feel by the outpouring of love we have from all of our families. We have so many loved ones around us but we hope to be able to travel to Utah soon to see some more of our extended family.

Next year I am sure Christmas will be a little different because Claire will be a lot more involved when it comes to decorating, meeting Santa and opening gifts! I am so excited!!! I want to see the holidays through her eyes and figure out all of our new traditions.

And then yesterday Claire was baptized.

Ryan and I had many conversations about religion and what route we would take with Claire and we decided that baptizing her Catholic was what we were going to do. I was raised Catholic and Ryan was raised Christian and even though the two of us are not very religious we know that we want to introduce her to this and start her on this path and once she is old enough we can sit with her and talk with her and help her make the right decisions. Ryan's aunt Kim offered to make her a beautiful gown and it was just perfect, it was the best dress for the day and she even had a few outfit changes. My grandma had sent her another gown that was made from a wedding dress and I also had my sisters baptism dress. She changed outfits like a diva and made the most of the day.

We had so many family members and friends come out to support us and Claire on her special day. We feel so blessed and loved that it can be overwhelming and I am at a loss for words. I want to thank every single person that reached out, that joined us, and that has let us know that they are there for us. We love you all so much and we are so thankful for you all.

Dear Aaron & Kristen,You two are the perfect God parents for Claire. Ryan and Aaron have been friends for so long and I am thankful for that friendship because it introduced me to Kristen. the 4 of us had so many great times together and I am now thankful that our little families will now be forever intwined. I know that you will love and care for Claire as if she was your own and that Claire & Hailey will get to spend lots of time together.Thank you for all that you do and I hope that we can all be together again soon, love you all so so muchNikol, Ryan & Claire